It was just one of those days, when it felt a bit chilly in the house. Working around the house trying to get some last minute chores done, before the onset of the winter weather and if you are a home owner, you know what that can entail. While I was doing some of the “honey-do” requests, my Bride was upstairs already wrapping the gifts for the Christmas season; by Thanksgiving Day, we have Christmas wrapped up for the season. My Bride takes great pride in the fact that by Thanksgiving Day, all the Christmas/Hanukah cards are signed and addressed and stuffed with our yearly newsletter, all of the gifts have been purchased, wrapped and bundled by group and the best part is that everything should be paid off by New Years Day. She was mentioning that she felt a chill in the air, as she was getting her stuff done.

She announced that she was going to make chili for dinner, as she felt that it was a good dinner for this weather. Now I am amazed at how quickly she can make a pot of chili, even though I good naturedly give her some grief, because she is always trying to make me eat healthy, but thankfully she no longer makes the dish just with ground turkey, as she now adds ground sirloin in for flavor. I think of the years when I made a pot of chili and it would take hours to make, but then I approached it differently, starting from the meat selection onward, but of course she is trying to keep me on this earth a little longer, so whenever she can, she tries to make meals that are more health-conscious whereas I never even think in terms of that when it comes to eating. I have to admit that she is probably the reason that I don’t have gout or look more like Falstaff.

I also had the good fortune, through a friend to pick up a mixed case of wines from Chile the day before at the very reasonable price of five dollars a bottle. There are days when we just enjoy a glass of wine or two at home and it is not necessary to open up a forty or fifty dollar bottle of wine; even though it would be wonderful to drink wines of that nature on a daily basis, this Wine Blogger doesn’t. The wines were all from Vina Santa Rita of Santiago, Chile and were all from their “120 range.” This range of wines commemorates the 120 patriots that after a long, hard battle during the fight for Chile’s independence, reached the lands belonging to Santa Rita. On that fateful night in 1814, these forces of liberty found refuge in the estate cellars, the same cellars that produce this range of wines, as well as the other offerings from the winery. In my mixed case I had bought Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Carmenere 2013 and Merlot 2012. These wines all come from the Valle Central of Chile; the largest DO of the country. These wines in the collection are made for early consumption, but are not as fruit forward as some wines of this ilk can be. On that chilly day, to go with the chili, the Chilean wine I selected was the Carmenere, which had enough natural spice to pair with the chili, and yes I know that I used an ample amount of alliteration.